Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were defended and what was the average number of days from an offence being committed on a (a) mean and (b) median basis for criminal cases being brought to completion in England and Wales by (i) court type, (ii) region, (iii) local criminal justice board area, (iv) local justice area and (v) Crown court in each quarter in each year since 2019.

Timeliness estimates for defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts for various geographic breakdowns can be found in the attached table.

Estimates of timeliness from offence to completion are taken from the point of offence committal through to the eventual completion of a case at court. These estimates are impacted by the reporting of non-recent offences, particularly in the case of mean estimates as offences reported several years after the incident can have a large impact on offence to completion measures. Caution should be taken when drawing conclusions from such granular breakdowns as requested as there is potential for marked variations based on small volumes and even single cases.

The pandemic is the primary cause of the increased caseload in our courts. Prior to the pandemic, the outstanding caseload had reduced significantly, from over 55,000 in late 2014 to c.33,000 in late 2018. The Government is committed to supporting the recovery of the courts. We have extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022 and removed the limit on the number of days the Crown Court can sit in the 2021/22 financial year. To secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels in 2022/23 and beyond we are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment.